International Education Studies; Vol. 8, No. 3; 2015 ISSN 1913-9020 E-ISSN 1913-9039 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education Scrutiny of Critical Thinking Concept Ali Mohammad Siahi Atabaki1, Narges Keshtiaray1 & Mohammad H. Yarmohammadian1 1 Department of Educational Sciences, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran Correspondence: Narges Keshtiaray, Department of Educational Sciences, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran. E-mail: [email protected] Received: October 16, 2014 Accepted: November 20, 2014 Online Published: February 25, 2015 doi:10.5539/ies.v8n3p93 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ies.v8n3p93 Abstract Learning critical thinking skills are the goal of educational systems so the term “critical thinking” (CT) is frequently found in educational policy documents. Despite this frequency, however, precise understandings among teachers of what CT really means do not exit. The present study is designed to answer the following question. We can classify critical thinking concept in a conceptual framework. A qualitative content analysis with deductive categorization was used to classify critical thinking concept in a conceptual framework .The research field (statistical population) included all available digital and written sources related to critical thinking. The Research sample was a purposeful homogeneous sample. It is used to describe the sample that includes information based on the qualitative research goals. The results showed that critical thinking concept could be investigated in fields of both psychology and philosophy. While philosophers emphasis on the nature and quality of critical thinking, psychologists focus on cognitive process and components used to investigate the practical problems. So philosophers emphasize critical thinking attitudes while psychologists focus on critical thinking skills. Keywords: critical thinking, educational goals, thinking skills, thinking attitudes 1. Introduction Thinking is one of the most necessary aspects human lives. Everyone needs critical thinking skills to be successful in solving the problems in difficult situations and having effective and acute communication with others. Critical thinking skills help people to have critical look about society problems and, instead of undisputed imitation, try to resolve them. Everyone needs to analyze and evaluate his/her living conditions to make important decisions in his life. In recent years, educational specialists have been concern about the inability of students in critical thinking skills reference. Growing students’ mental skills has always been an issue, but nowadays, it is in a critical state because our information output is more than critical thinking skills (Meyer, 2007). Thinking is the ultimate goal of training and a crucial component of educational processes. There are different approaches in education but they all agree that thinking is the final outcome of education. However, there are some voices that say “thinking in educational system is in danger” (Heidegger, 2001) The goal of educational systems is educated people who are independent and can think effectively. Students must be educated and motivated to research. They should not follow others without any investigation (Kadivar, 2002). Learning how to think is the goal of education. It needs to educate learners who can analyze and judge demanding for jobs in global economy, democracy survival and ability to make decision on the rapid changes in society (Dewey, 1993). Although critical thinking is one of the most important concepts in 21th century, its origin belongs to Plato. Philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle regarded critical thinking as the ability to ask questions, test, and think about ideas and values (McConnell, 2008). There are different ideas about critical thinking because critical thinking is a complex concept and includes complex activities and mental processes that are not easy to describe and measure (Vacek, 2009). Another reason of independent and think effectively is that each researcher defines it with regard to his own understanding and research needs. Despite an emphasis on the critical thinking issue as the goal of educational systems, there is no motivation to help students think critically and use this ability in their lives (Maleki,1386). School teachers focus on transferring information but training creative thinker is neglected (Shabani, 2004). The result of Teacher Information Management System (TIMISS) test shows the weak performance of Iranian students. The rank of Iranian students in mathematic is 39 and in science 38 among 40 countries (Jahani, 2003). 93 www.ccsenet.org/ies International Education Studies Vol. 8, No. 3; 2015 1.1 What Is Critical Thinking? What Are Its Features? A lot of philosophers and scientists tried to answer these questions. Ordinary people also welcomed critical thinking at schools. This educational perspective is generally supported in recent years and is completed by critical movement in the second half of the 20th century (Jahani, 2003). So the present study is designed to answer the following question. Can we classify critical thinking concept in a conceptual framework? 1.2 Theoretical Framework Theoretical foundation of critical thinking can be divided into two groups: Definition and theories based on psychology Definition and theories based on philosophy The lack of relationship between psychology and philosophy is the reason of having different definition (Reed, 1998). 1.3 Definitions and Theories Based on Philosophy Philosophical theories are theories of logic and opinion about understanding the issues, i.e. what a person needs for thinking. Socrates related critical thinking to philosophy by his exploratory dialogues. In this way, he helped people to think about themselves and achieve their knowledge. In his opinion, critical thinking means discovering the truth. In process of Socrates’ dialogue, people get an unstable and turbulent awareness of untested beliefs and assumptions. People feel depressed and chaotic in recognition of themselves. This is confusion and Knowledge of their ignorance and idiotism (Neistani, 2011). After Socrates, Plato and then Aristotle continued their research about thinking and knowledge. Plato believed that people are discovering the knowledge while Aristotle believed that intellectual talent is one of the most important features of people. In his idea, emotional life is an introduction to intellectual growth. The contemporary reform movement in Educational system is closely related to informal logic that was a specific field in philosophy in early 1970. The informal logic is a branch of logic that is related to analysis, testing, and mistake investigation in language. Informal logicians consider critical thinking as a broader expression that includes informal logic findings but benefit other forms of logic (Johnson, 2007). Informal logic supports accurate theoretical foundations for critical thinking with little emphasis on the arguments and evidence. Although informal logic supported the idea of critical thinking based on philosophy, other philosophers also paid attention to critical thinking component. There are different ideas about critical thinking but we can find same issues among them (Ennis, 1985). Johnson (2007), McPeck (1981) and Paul (1993) mentioned the similarities as “Critical attitude emphasizes on complete support of reasons before accepting controversial claims, tests different functional measures for judgment, judges claims and discussions and is sensitive to possible bias.” Annis (1992) believed that critical thinking is a rational and reflexive thinking focusing on beliefs and decisions. In his idea, each person needs motivation to think critically. He classified critical thinking into five main processes: 1) Initial classification; 2) Serious supporting; 3) Conclusion; 4) Advanced classification; and 5) Strategy and method. Henri (1991) identified five dimensions in analyzing the problems: 1) Participation; 2) Community; 3) Interaction; 4) Meta cognition. Garrison (1991) believed that critical thinking includes five steps: 1) identifying the problems; 2) defining the problems clearly; 3) searching possible solutions; 4) evaluating their functions; and 5) integrating their understanding with available knowledge. All of these philosophical ideas (Ennis, 1985; Garrison, 1991; Henri, 1991) put emphasis on the formal needs of thinking. Facione (1998) designed his critical thinking model according to the philosophical idea too. He wanted to know how critical thinking can be defined in different levels of university. There are six critical thinking skills in Facione’s model: 1) interpretation; 2) analysis; 3) Testing; 4) inference; 5) Explanation; and 6) self regulation. Lipman (2003) believed that critical thinking is one kind of reflective thinking that helps people to judge easily and correctly. In his idea, critical thinking is related to cognitive growth and intellectual responsibility. He also believed self-correction is one of the most important features of critical thinking. In his opinion, interests and trends have important roles in critical thinking. Basic skills like reading, writing, arithmetic, and verbal communication have an important role in developing social skills but they are not enough for critical thinking. 1.4 Definitions and Theories Based on Psychology While philosophers focus on the nature and quality of critical thinking as a product, psychologists